Emaciated teen continues physical emergence

Happy Bruce Jackson has tacked on 23 pounds and inch in height

Friday, November 21, 2003

BY SUSAN K. LIVIO AND MARY JO PATTERSON

STAR-LEDGER STAFF

Bruce Jackson, the 45-pound 19-year-old found foraging for food in a neighbor's trash can last month, still looks like a child as he flits about on his hospital floor in PJs, street clothes, or the Spiderman costume he got for Halloween.

Because of his arrested development, which authorities attribute to years of starvation, the N.J. Department of Human Services has applied to be his legal guardian.

But the teen is growing at an amazing rate -- adding 23 pounds and over an inch in height in the last five weeks -- and no longer resembles the fading wisp of a boy Collingswood police removed from his adoptive parents last month. Doctors are cautiously optimistic that he will reach manhood.

For now he enjoys circling his food choices on the hospital menu, according to people who have seen him. He loves to hang out at the nurses' station, and has said he wants to become a nurse himself. His few visitors -- the hospital enforces a "No Visitors" rule and protects his privacy through a pseudonym -- report that, like a typical pre-adolescent, he has begun challenging adults. He likes where he is and enjoys attention, but understands that his future will involve another move.

Altogether, Bruce Jackson is leading a life that is radically different from the one interrupted Oct. 10, when police removed him and three younger brothers from their adoptive parents, Vanessa and Raymond Jackson. All four boys were former foster children of the N.J. Division of Youth and Family Services.

The three other boys were also on the edge of starvation, Camden County authorities said. The parents have been charged with causing bodily injury to their sons by failing to provide food and medical care.

Bruce and his brothers, ages 9, 10, and 14, have since told investigators of living a spartan existence in a household with different rules for boys and girls. In addition to Bruce and his brothers, the Jacksons cared for two girls, an adoptive daughter and a foster child. Both were found to be well-nourished, but were also removed from the home.

The boys said they were awakened daily between 5 and 6 a.m. for an hour of Bible study and prayer, and then sent back to bed. The girls also had a prayer hour, but it was later.

When the boys got up again, one of the Jacksons' grown biological daughters would home-school them for two or three hours. After that, the boys told investigators, they did chores or played. The boys reported eating only twice a day, typically uncooked pancake batter and oatmeal, and said they were not allowed to join the rest of the family at the table during mealtimes.

Bruce has also alleged that he and his brothers were occasionally disciplined with a belt, although investigators have no evidence suggesting they were injured as a result.

The girls told investigators that their mother informed them that Bruce would be "leaving" in December to get his own apartment and job.

After the Jacksons were arrested, some of their relatives and friends mounted a spirited defense on their behalf.

Their pastor, Harry Thomas of Come Alive New Testament Church in Medford, called the Jacksons loving parents and blamed the boys for their conditions.

All of them suffered from "eating disorders" or fetal alcohol syndrome, Thomas said, and Bruce constantly gorged on food and vomited.

Confidential DYFS records document that Bruce weighed 49 pounds at age 11, around the time he was adopted.

Last month, sunken-faced and only 4-feet tall, the 19-year-old was found to weigh only 45 pounds.

Since being hospitalized, he has not vomited once, according to sources monitoring his case.

Bruce's brothers were also found to be seriously underweight on Oct. 10; the youngest, age 9, weighed only 23 pounds, according to Camden County authorities.

Now, living in foster homes, they have also gained weight.

After the Jacksons adopted their sons, DYFS closed their cases. Last summer, however, caseworkers were in their home many times in order to arrange the adoption of their newest foster child.

Somehow, they failed to take in the boys' shocking conditions.

Once police stepped in, DYFS went to court to gain custody of all six Jackson kids. A judge granted DYFS custody of five but ruled that Bruce, at 19, was legally an adult.

DYFS' parent agency, the state Department of Human Services, has since petitioned the court to appoint its Division of Developmental Disabilities guardian for Bruce. DDD provides services to young adults with disabilities.

Child welfare authorities say that while the teenager may prove to be capable of living on his own -- he has demonstrated that he can read and do multiplication tables -- he needs protection.

Until now the hospital in Camden has been acting as his unofficial guardian, shooing away television reporters and others who have sought to interview him.

"We believe he needs us to be his guardian and to provide services," said Ralph Siegel, a spokesman for Human Services.

Sources said that Human Services plans to place Bruce in a therapeutic foster home, possibly next month.

Kevin Ryan, New Jersey's Child Advocate, said his office planned to review any guardian arrangement.

"An entity beyond goverment needs also to be protecting Bruce's interests," he said.

Tom Blatner, a child welfare consultant and former head of DYFS, said the state owes the 19-year-old every chance for "the best possible life."

"He obviously needs someone to connect to, services, and some benefits, until he's 21, at least," he said. "Any way you cut it, the system failed this family."